Defense industry returns to GOP

After holding its nose and going blue for two straight election cycles, the defense industry is returning to familiar territory, tacking hard right in its political giving in 2012.

Overall, the defense industry has contributed nearly $13 million to congressional and presidential candidates this cycle — putting it more than halfway toward its all-time high of $24.5 million in 2008, according to the most recent numbers compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. Republicans have taken a commanding lead in scoring that cash, nabbing 60 percent of the industry’s contributions — as opposed to the slightly less than 50 percent they attracted in 2008 and 2010.

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Weapons makers have a good policy reason to lean Republican this year: Their industry faces hundreds of billions of dollars in potential cuts to the Defense Department set to begin taking effect next year. And the budget plan put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), which was passed by House Republicans, would keep Pentagon spending well above the levels proposed by President Barack Obama, even as the plan slashes funding for entitlement programs such as Medicare.

But industry insiders argue that the shift has less to do with political ideology and more to do with simple math — congressional Republicans outnumber their Democratic colleagues.

Whether giving is all about supporting friends or backing the majority is tough to suss out in the world of influence, but industry insiders are nodding to both.

“In a word — incumbency,” said the Podesta Group lobbyist, whose clients include defense giants Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics.

The numbers back him up: On a list of the Top 20 recipients of defense-industry money, nonincumbents are virtually nonexistent. In fact, there are just three challengers represented: GOP presidential hopefuls Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, along with Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), who is vying to unseat Missouri’s Democratic senator, Claire McCaskill.

Defense contractors such as General Dynamics also said incumbency plays a role in political action committee contributions, though they emphasized that a member’s positions on the issues matter, too.

“Those are the folks that are here. Those are the folks that are making decisions now, today, and it’s very easy to figure out where they stand on issues that we feel are most important,” said General Dynamics spokesman Kendell Pease. “We continue to support those folks, both House and Senate, who support those issues that we feel are most important.”

The company’s political donations — measured by contributions from its PACs and employees — follow a trend that holds true for each of the top five defense contractors and for the industry at large: In the 2008 and 2010 cycles, General Dynamics split its giving evenly among Democrats and Republicans. This cycle, the company favors Republicans, with 55 percent of its $846,174 in contributions directed toward the GOP.

For the other companies in the top five — Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon — the pattern is even more apparent. Lockheed, which ranked first in political giving for the 2008 presidential cycle and is leading so far in 2012, had an even split between the two parties in 2008 but this year favors Republicans, 63 percent to 37 percent.

Lockheed Martin spokesman Christopher Williams said the defense contractor supports Democrats and Republicans at the state and federal level “based on their level of interest and commitment in national security, homeland security and other issues of importance to the corporation, including education and technology.”

The breakdown this year marks a return to the industry’s historical norm: The average since 1990 has been about 60-40 in favor of the GOP.

Readers' Comments (14)

Overall, the defense industry has contributed nearly $13 million to congressional and presidential candidates this cycle — putting it more than halfway toward its all-time high of $24.5 million in 2008

So now they are buying a war to happen. Our country has gone insane. First $200 million from NRA and now the defense industry. Talk about putting down a deposit for the White House and the wars that follow.

Our leaders and congress make a dictatorship or communist leaders from other countries look like the salvation army. The bribes and corruption of this big money is a sickening reminder of what is so wrong with our system

Romney has already promised more defense spending, at least for this week. He's made it clear he is pro war.....strange that neither he nor any of his five sons have ever served in the military. Gotta keep those wars going and the defense contractors happy. We may be broke and have to cut back on Medicare and Pell Grants but let's keep spending money on useless wars that we cannot afford. We wouldn't want to spend money on our infrastructure and roads....just let them all crumble and build new ones in Afghanistan and Iraq. If you give the Republicans enough rope we will soon be a Third World country.

The defense contractors give to whoever they think is most likely to win. They saw the writing on the wall in 2008 and supported Dems and in 2010 knew the Dems would hold the Senate and contributed to support their best interests. Those who think this is about starting another war are just plain stupid and uninformed. Many large donors change monetary allegiances depending on who is most likely to win. Political ideology has little influence where money is concerned.

We'll see how the elections go, I do however hope the dims are unsuccessful in their attempts to dismantle the US defense system. It was that very dismantling of our defense during the 1990's when Al Qeada steadily attacked the US with impunity, that led to our being caught flat footed on 9/11, the stripping of our defense and intelligence capabilities, the separating of them, directly led to the attacks of 9/11 catching us off guard, and yet the very people who ignore these facts, led the charge before, are trying again. Listen, Defense is actually in the Constitution, it's the one thing the government should be doing, yet you people would have the government abandon it's Constitutional responsibilities, to engage in social engineering, you people have failed and betrayed our country.

As the article points out, Republicans have always led the way in contributions from the massive defense industry. Why not? They are the Orwellian "Animal Farm" porkers who waddle to the front of the line on military-industrial-congressional-complex, govenment-created-jobs and costly, long-running contracts. Which political party has given us three Bush oil wars, multiple invasions, wasted our soldiers senselessly in places like Beirut (247 Marines) under Reagan, Afghanistan and Iraq--all based upon lies, deception, and oil greed.

The two, Bush-Cheney wars, unpaid-for and combined at 20 years are projected to cost $5 trillion as the lifetimes of war bills, misery, suffering, and death, and costly VA healthcare come in. Notice how Republicans are the warmongers and war profiteers with 435-plus, GOP-approved contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq who have posted over $60 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse while failing in their nation-building. Also notice how the GOP repeatedly blocked efforts by Democrats in Congress to rein-in spending, provide oversight and accountability. Notice how they spin-off defense contracts like the wasted $3 billion Bush man-in-the moondoggle NASA pork or the wasted $3 billion Boeing failed "virtual border fence" or their favorite, the $60 billion-plus, Reagan-era to present, unnecessary, unproven, SDI-spinoff, anti-ballistic missile systems or their broad-based GOP "bridge-to-nowhere" pork.

It was the military-industrial-complex and the rich industrialist elite that bankrupted the Soviet Union and brought down Communism, not draft-dodger, Hollywood war hero Reagan who came in after a decade of Soviet wasteful spending and decline. Thanks to Reagan and subsequent warmongers Bush I and Bush II, trillions were spent on Cold War weapons systems, three aircraft carriers at $5 billion each named after Reagan, Ford, and GHW Bush, and many other high tech, obscenely costly weapons systems like the F-22, F-35, etc. These three Republican presidents alone took a National Debt that was less than $800 billion through Carter and tripled it under Reagan, GHW Bush added to it and GW Bush more than doubled it yet again by mortgaging America's future to former enemies, Japan and Communist China.

Notice that Romney is continuing on in that warmongering, war profiteering vein wanting to keep America and our beleagured troops in the Middle East, to increase the of our forces and to keep that GOP war-profiteering government gravytrain going though we are on the brink of bankruptcy thanks to their runaway spending and growth of govenment and growth of top-secret industry employers, weapons-makers and exporters. America spends half of the entire world's total on wars and military spending and is responsible for more global deaths, destruction, and misery than any other country or terrorist group. Meanwhile, most of the US combat deaths have been created by low-tech, low-cost, IEDs made by illiterates.

Many so-called conservatives in Congress are against Pentagon plans to develop its own alternative fuel sources, they just voted down around 140 million dollars to research jet fuel and other military fuels from algae, camelina , etc. and all made here in the USA under Military contracts , and how can anyone talk about Patriotism and be against the Army,Navy,Air-Force and Marines to develop their own new independent sources of energy ? some say it's because Exxon-Mobil and other Big Oil Co.'s have exclusive deals and exclusive agents, brokers , commissions and fees, etc., others say it's the fear that these new technologies could hit the jackpot and develop huge new formulas , like very cheap jet fuel sources from algae and camelina,etc., derivatives and mixes, that they could end up free from Big Oil, etc., and others say its just the "oilers" inside the Dept. of Energy that want to keep a tight grip on " juicy " contracts , since everybody knows that big parts of the Energy Dpt. have been Exxon Mobil territory since the 70's , which sells billions of dollars of expensive fuels to the Pentagon at near no-bid levels every year , so why not a full Investigation ? and break the Pentagon free?

President Obama has been asking for 14 months for the CFTC and its chairman Gensler to end Oil speculation, but nothing has happened so far , and even when Senator Bill Nelson and ex- Rep. Joseph Kennedy II have asked for Gensler to take action or step down,...nothing !

and Exxon Mobil and the Netanyahu/Hedge-Funds group are the 2 key backbones of the Mitt " Money Managers" Romney machine - his Private Equity Partnerships are making huge profits around them , their Hedge Funds and their capital and advisers- so could there be a link ? and isn't a National Security risk issue to have the Pentagon so dependant exclusively on Big Oil ? and unable to make its own decisions? and unable to move forward on new energy technologies ? when China is spending billions in new alternative fuels ?

Also as many are saying, Oil speculation and the Euro crisis could create a massive 10 to 20 % drop in USA markets before the November 2012 election, and the media controlled by the neocons, are pushing these 2 every day : with exaggerated gossip of impending collapse in Europe and while avoiding any mention of rampant Oil speculation by Hedge-Funds and Money Managers, etc,, so is this a well organized push to crash markets before the 2012 elections ? yes , but no one will say a word in D.C. since Exxon-Mobil and the Hedge-Funds control the campaign cash of many key "so-called" conservative Congress leaders , so they will keep on speculating with oil and trying to crash European markets to slow down the USA economy 10- 20 % and make the Obama-Biden ticket look as incompetents in the economic front, brilliant , eh ?

Another issue is food, for troops and civilians, since we know that the latest batches of gmo corn and soy, with double genetically modified elements, to kill new and old weeds and pests and also to withstand the latest second generation weedkillers and other resistant pests, they are a toxic soup of gmo DNA concoctions , so if the Pentagon wants the sharpest troops, they will give them the best natural organic foods, but here too some groups of contractors are pushing to give them only gmo2 foods, an absolute criminal nightmare and to sell them massive amounts of medications : gas, diarrhea, allergies, acne, asthma, stomach pain, etc., etc., and where is the logic in all this ?